NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The Indian trio of Vangipurappu Laxman, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma have returned from injury to bolster the team for next month’s three-match test series against New Zealand.
The selectors, who met in Chennai, once again overlooked middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh and retained youngster Cheteshwar Pujara, who made his debut against Australia in Bangalore earlier this month. Gambhir and Sharma were nursing knee injuries that kept them out of the Bangalore test while Laxman missed the match because of a back problem. Opener Murali Vijay, who replaced Gambhir in Bangalore, has been retained in the 15-member squad led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, secretary of the Indian cricket board N Srinivasan said in a statement yesterday.
Ahmedabad hosts the first test from November 4, while Hyderabad (November 12-16) and Nagpur (November 20-24) are the venues for the two other matches.
Indian squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra.
